The use of cargo bars or deck and shoring beams in the trucking and railroad industries, as well as in connection with the shipping industry, as a means for securing or shoring freight loads against movement is widespread. The cargo bars are formed as round, square or rectangular, high strength, tubular steel or aluminum beams having end fittings which can be selectively coupled or locked in interfitting relation with belt rails mounted on the side walls of the inside of a truck trailer or railroad car. The belt rails are typically formed with grooves and/or openings of various configurations along the length of the belt rail so that the cargo bars can be locked at almost any position along the belt rails to accommodate loads of various sizes.
Most belt rails are formed as horizontally extending members which are secured at predetermined strategic heights. There are, however, vertically extending belt rails having a plurality of adjacent vertical coupling means, such as openings, so that cargo bars can be coupled to these belt rails at virtually any desired height inside the trailer.
While the use of cargo shoring beams and bars has been generally quite satisfactory, a wide variety of different systems employing different types of belt rail coupling structures and corresponding end fittings has been developed. This has made interchanging of cargo bars virtually impossible. While there are a number of different systems, two systems currently dominate the trucking industry. The first is a system which employs a horizontally extending belt rail with a horizontally extending protruding section having a series of side-by-side apertures therein and a continuous channel or groove below the apertures. The cargo bar end fitting has a mating pair of pins and foot portion which extend into the apertures and groove, respectively. This system is shown in U.S. Pat. No. Re. 26,309 and is manufactured by Evans Products Company, Industrial Division, of Plymouth, Mich. A second cargo bar-belt rail system which is in widespread use similarly employs a horizontally extending belt rail with a horizontally extending protruding section in which side-by-side vertically extending slots are provided. This same system includes a vertically extending belt rail having vertically superimposed and aligned slots in a protruding and vertically extending section of the belt rail. The second system is currently commercially available through Aeroquip Corporation of Jackson, Mich. and Ancra Corporation of El Segundo, Calif., and is sold under the designation "Series E" belt rail and shoring beam system.
Other belt rail systems are in use, particularly in the railroad and shipping industries, but these two described systems dominate the trucking industry. Typical of some of the other belt rail-cargo bar systems which have been used are the devices set forth in U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,977,899; 3,063,387; 3,066,620; 3,345,956; 3,782,295; and 3,799,070.
Most trucking companies are not equipped with a single system, and as a result they must keep a supply of cargo bars which includes, as a minimum, the two dominant belt rail-cargo bar systems, and may include other types of bars. This duplication of equipment is, of course, costly, and invariably results in shortages of one kind of bar in one area while other areas have an excess. The most usual solution to the problem is for the company to carry more cargo bars of each type than is actually required.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide an end fitting for a cargo bar or shoring beam which is compatible and can be coupled to two of the most commonly employed, wall mounted, belt rail systems in the trucking industry.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an end fitting for a cargo bar which can be used with vertically extending as well as horizontally extending belt rail systems.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an end fitting for a cargo bar which may be easily mounted to the central beam of existing cargo bars so that they may be adapted for use with a plurality of belt rail systems.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide an end fitting for a cargo bar or shoring beam which may be easily coupled to the belt rail.
It is still a further object of the present invention to provide an end fitting for a cargo bar or shoring beam which is economical and easy to manufacture, has high strength and is durable, and has a minimum number of moving parts.
The end fitting for the cargo bar of the present invention has other features and objects of advantage, some of which will become more apparent from or are set forth in detail in the drawing and the following description.